Indra Nooyi isn't even officially begun her new role as CEO of PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP), and already she's shaking things up. On Friday Pepsi announced Nooyi would be promoting John Compton to CEO of PepsiCo North America, effective immediately. The promotion is only part of a reorganization that morphs Pepsi into two separate divisions, both reporting directly to Nooyi: PepsiCo International and PepsiCo North America.

Bank of America analyst Bryan Spillane likes Compton in the role, but according to the Wall Street Journal [subscription required], said that Pepsi's "talent glut" might mean other executives would begin to grumble about their relative paucity of promotions and responsibilities.

Compton's background is notable for his ability to manage disparate organizations; he was responsible for the integration of Quaker Oats into PepsiCo following the 2001 merger. Nooyi won't be officially his boss until October 1, when she takes over from outgoing CEO Steven Reinemund.

Pepsi's new CEO starts in on change creation originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 17 Sep 2006 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

My best girlfriend from business school, Jaime, just announced that she was quitting her job as a management consultant and taking a position at PepsiCo in the corporate strategy department. Evidently she's not the only smart, financially savvy woman PepsiCo values; today, the beverage giant announced that current CFO Indra K. Nooyi would be taking over as CEO effective October 1, when current chief Steven Reinemund steps down from the position "to spend more time with his family." He'll be retiring in May, and will continue as Chairman of PepsiCo's board until then.

Indra will join 10 other women currently in the CEO position at Fortune 500 companies (by market capitalization, she'll be the second-most important, behind Patricia Woertz at ADM). Analysts seem to be roundly thrilled, calling Nooyi a "star" (Citigroup's Bonnie Herzog) and marking this promotion as an indication there is "enough to keep Ms. Nooyi interested at Pepsi" (Bank of America's Bryan Spillane).

I see it as no coincidence that a valued friend would move to the company at the same time an obviously brilliant woman takes over the CEO role. This can only mean good things for Pepsi. Investors seem to be cheering, too, and have sent the stock up 57 cents to $63.90 so far today, within pennies of a 52-week (and, in fact, all-time) high.

Sarah Gilbert has a Wharton MBA and worked in investment banking for several years, then at a series of increasingly edgy startups before finding her calling, producing blogs for AOL. She doesn't own stock in Pepsi.

Pepsi names new CEO in a coup for women, CFOs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.